Re: Ant: Re: Question about T and D

On Sep 20, 2005, at 7:26 PM, Steven Williams wrote:
> The Semitic languages got their [T]'s and [D]'s from
> the intervocalic and syllable-final spirantization of
> plosives, commonly known by the acronym 'begad kefat'
> (at least in Hebrew).
>
> Simply put, the plosives [b], [g], [d], [k], [p] and
> [t] fricativize into [v], [G], [D], [x], [f] and [T].
> This basic theme runs through Hebrew at least.
This is only true for Hebrew, Aramaic, and possibly other Northwest
Semitic languages.  All Semitic languages also inherited original */T/
and */D/, which were preserved in Arabic and other languages.

In Hebrew, original */T/ and */D/ merged into /S/ and /z/.
In Aramaic, they merged into /t/ and /d/.

In both Hebrew and Aramaic, they eventually reappeared as allophones of
/t/ and /d/.


-Stephen (Steg)
  "...The most important development in the next 25 years?  Dude,
paleontologists don't get issued crystal balls.  We work on the *past*,
remember?  Seriously, anything I predict would look dumb if anyone even
bothered to read it in 2030."
      ~ prof. kevin padian

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